Bhubaneswar: The BJD skipped the swearing-in ceremony of Karnataka chief minister H.D. Kumaraswamy on Wednesday, maintaining its equidistant stand from both the BJP and the Congress.

However, Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik congratulated the Karnataka chief minister. He tweeted: "Congratulations to Shri @hd_kumaraswamy on taking oath as the Chief Minister of Karnataka. My best wishes to him and his team."

On the issue of not attending the event, BJD leader and former minister Arun Sahu said: "We are following the principle of maintaining equidistance from both the BJP and the Congress. As a part of that principle, we skipped the ceremony. Our chief minister Naveen Patnaik has not attended a single swearing-in ceremony of any chief minister in the last 18 years."

On being asked whether Naveen was at all invited for the swearing-in ceremony, Sahu said: "I have no idea whether he has been invited or not. But, none of us went there."

Later, Naveen Patnaik's office confirmed that he was invited to the swearing-in ceremony.

Speculation was rife for the last two days that the BJD will attend the event as Naveen shares a good relation with former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda, who is the father of Kumaraswamy.

On Naveen's invitation, Deve Gowda had even come to Bhubaneswar in January to attend the release ceremony of a book on Biju Patnaik.

At the event, Deve Gowda had argued that Biju babu should have been given the Bharat Ratna.